Seahawks must refocus after foul performance on road

By
GREG BEST

FRUSTRATED Warrnambool Seahawks coach Bobby Cunningham is urging his players to move on from a controversial loss to Sunbury Jets on Saturday night and home in on a finals berth.

FRUSTRATED Warrnambool Seahawks coach Bobby Cunningham is urging his players to move on from a controversial loss to Sunbury Jets on Saturday night and home in on a finals berth.

The Seahawks suffered their second defeat in three matches when they went down 94-87 on the road. But their 11-5 win/loss record still has them sitting second on the Big V Basketball Terrill conference ladder with three games remaining in the regular season.

The Seahawks were called for 26 fouls and put the Jets into the foul-shooting bonus early in three of the four quarters on Saturday night.

The Jets had 36 shots from the charity stripe and made 23 in the tight game.

The Seahawks had 24 foul shots as the Jets were called for 19 fouls.

Cunningham, careful to not invoke a league sanction by disparaging the referees, said his players lost focus at their inability to do the right thing in the eyes of officials.

“What are we doing differently to them (Sunbury) and they get the calls and we don’t?” Cunningham said.

He said the referees weren’t to blame for the result.

“The officials didn’t help Sunbury score 94. It was where those fouls occurred to where our fouls occurred.

“I don’t want to take anything away from Sunbury, they shot the ball well.

“We scored 87 and that is a winning score. We weren’t really knuckled down in defence like we have been.

“We did lose our focus. We had guys picking up tech fouls, a lot of the decisions were being questioned by our leaders.

“We need to pick up the pieces and stop feeling sorry for ourselves. If we want to play finals, we have to refocus. We have a lot of tough games coming up.”

They start on Saturday in the Seahawks’ final regular season home game against Watson conference leader Southern Peninsula Sharks, before a double-header road trip completes the season.

“We have to win all three to finish on top,” he said.

Cunningham said the Seahawks needed to work on their defensive pressure this week and promised a tough week on the practice court.